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Commandment-keeping Families Glorify Christ, February 13
Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.
Proverbs 22:6
, NRSV.
Children must be taught that they are a part of the home firm. They are fed, and
clothed, and loved, and cared for; and they must respond to these many mercies
by bringing all the happiness possible into the family of which they are members.
Thus they become children of God, missionaries in the home circle.
If parents neglect the education of their children, they deprive them of that
which is necessary for the development of a symmetrical, all-sided character, which
will be of the greatest blessing to them all through their life. If children are allowed
to have their own way, they receive the idea that they must be waited upon, cared
for, indulged, and amused. They think that their wishes and their will must be
gratified. Educated in this way, they carry through all their religious experience the
deficiencies of their home training.
God would have our families symbols of the family in heaven. Let parents and
children bear this in mind every day, relating themselves to one another as members
of the family of God. Then their lives will be of such a character as to give to the
world an object lesson of what families who love God and keep His commandments
may be. Christ will be glorified; His peace and grace and love will pervade the
family circle like a precious perfume. A beautiful offering, in the lives of children
of Christian missionaries, will be made to God. This will make the heart of Jesus
glad, and will be regarded by Him as the most precious offering He can receive.
May the Lord Jesus Christ be an object of worship in every family. If parents
give their children the proper education, they themselves will be made happy by
seeing the fruit of their careful training in the Christlike character of their children.
They are doing God the highest service by presenting to the world well-ordered,
well-disciplined families, who not only fear the Lord, but honor and glorify Him
by their influence upon other families; and they will receive their reward.—
The
Review and Herald, November 17, 1896
.
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